Labor Day

2013PG-13Rated PG-131hr 51m

What begins as a short ride turns into a life-changing event for divorced single mother Adele Wheeler and her 13-year-old son, Henry, when they give a lift to a bloodied man on a fateful Labor Day weekend.

Labor Day

For Parents

15OK for kids 15+

Common Sense Note

Parents need to know that Labor Day is a romantic drama centering on an escaped convict and a lonely single mother with more discussion of sex than actual scenes of it (although there are brief flashbacks to a young couple making love, while mostly clothed, and some late-night sex noises a teenager overhears). There's a hint of violence when a man gruffly grabs a teenager or a woman, but the more disturbing scenes involve flashbacks to accidental deaths and a string of sad miscarriages. There are some uplifting messages about how people can fall in love and affect one another in just a few days, but there's also confusing messages about harboring a fugitive because he could be the love of your life.

Sexual Content

There are a couple of flashbacks to a young man kissing and having sex (mostly clothed) with his girlfriend. A boy hears his mother and a man making love, and there's an uncomfortable undertone of jealousy. A middle-school-aged girl talks to another tween about sex and how it makes adults crazy, is addictive like a drug, and causes people (including divorced parents) to do risky, dangerous things or to get rid of their kids. A tween also mentions incest.

Violence

An escaped convict, bleeding through a shirt, roughly grabs a 13-year-old boy by the neck and arms and forces his mom to help him. The ex-con grabs a woman and her son several times but never causes any harm. In flashbacks, we see how two accidental deaths occurred. There's a disturbing sequence when a woman recalls several miscarriages and a still birth (you see her crying, screaming, and crouching with blood streaming down her legs, and you also see her holding her stillborn baby). A mother slaps her wheelchair bound son across the face.

Language

Not applicable

Social Behavior

Although the movie takes a strangely positive stance on harboring a fugitive, it does encourage people to see past the obvious and figure out for themselves if someone is guilty or not. Adele's story challenges viewers to recognize how love is sometimes found in the unlikeliest of circumstances and how longing for love can make you lonely and isolated. Henry's tale shows the power of parent-child relationships. Frank teaches Adele and Henry about the simple pleasures of good company and good food and being a whole family.